Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Six months ago, Seth Wild was trapped when a house collapsed. In the intervening months, his anger and pain drove his boyfriend Casey Maguire away. Seth is heartbroken and he pushes himself hard to get back into shape so he can once again return to active duty. But he’s riding a desk at the station instead of actively fighting fires, and he knows he’s lost Casey for good.
Casey has taken ten of his students for a fun, outdoor adventure and Seth was supposed to be there. But Seth isn’t in the frame of mind to be around anyone. Casey is out at the recreational center when the sudden snow storm hits. He and the kids are trapped on a bus that won’t start and he barely manages to get a message to Seth before cell service is completely cut off. Knowing that Casey is out there with the kids, his nephew Jamie among them, Seth does whatever he can to get to them. Seth is their only help until the storm lets up. But being trapped together affords the two men a chance to finally talk about what went so horribly wrong between them. And maybe it’s the opportunity they need to start over again.
I’m an absolute sucker for a reunited lovers story, and this one is a prime example of why. I love the way Scott told the story, giving us the details piecemeal in the beginning until finally the whole picture unfolded. In the beginning, I was unsure of how these two men could even reconcile, given the information that we had. But Scott is a master storyteller, and the tale that was woven gave us a clear and beautiful picture of two men in love.
Seth is proud and stubborn, and his ideals of the way things should be are definitely a stumbling block. It takes Casey leaving to be his wake up call, and even then he’s not sure how he could possibly fix things. I love the way we got to know Seth, and the way he got to know himself and his true heart’s desire.
Casey is just as stubborn, but he has a gentler nature. I truly appreciated that he had the strength to walk away from Seth when he did, even though at first, I couldn’t understand why he would. The fact that I cared so much about him, and his relationship with Seth, is a testament to the way Scott crafted the story. As I said, it sort of a slow reveal, but each piece slotted into place beautifully until the whole picture of who these men were became clear. These guys worked for me, especially Casey.
I did have a tiny quibble with the pacing, as I thought there was a small part that dragged on too long and then ending felt just a tad bit rushed. I would have liked to see just a little bit more of these guys working through things. I got ever so slightly frustrated with the story at about the three quarters mark, and I felt things should be moving a long a bit more. There were also a couple of typos that stood out to me.
But yeah, there’s no doubt I enjoyed this one. Casey and Seth just did it for me. Their love shone through, even in the darkest parts, and there’s no doubt these two guys can weather anything that comes their way.
I loved this one as well….it is my favorite so far out of the 3 I have read of the series. I thought RJ was successful in ensuring that the storm was a main character and that the situation was believable. I thought the internal struggle of Seth was realistic and I like that even at the end, there was still a little internal struggle in dealing with his past issues/injuries. She didn’t make ever perfect as soon as the storm was over which I liked as it wouldn’t have been believable. The only thing that was nagging at me, which is really very small, was that when Seth arrived he asked if anyone else was there and Casey said that the caretaker of the outdoor center went home about 30 minutes before but left them the keys to the washrooms…….I think that if the person was going home that he wouldn’t leave a bus load of stranded kids and adult to fend for the themselves., but would ask them to come back with him where they could at least be warm. Also, why wouldn’t he leave the keys to the center instead of just the washrooms, knowing that it would at least provide some shelter and warmth. Again, very miniscule issue, but just one of those things that I thought was out of place and odd.
Great book, and certainly you do not need to have read the other ones in the series as they are stand alone books with only the storm being the recurring theme.